I find myself inspired by the latest pic on Climb.co.za‘s front page (left) – Colin Crabtree sending a legendary climb called “Stormwatch”, grade 31 this past weekend. I’m guessing he’s about 52 in this pic, I last heard he sent “Fossil Fuel” grade 32 at age 49 – impressive stuff!!

This week is set to be a hectic one. Spent the weekend packing up the bouldering wall and now it’s the rest of my stuff as I get ready to move once again. I wish I had some minions I could point in the direction of all my things that need to be packed and just say “Sick ‘em”

Exciting times lie ahead: A new place to stay in, friend’s wedding, my first real solo vacation and then the gauntlet thrown down by mr Justin who reckon I (or was that we?) should start hitting the climbing gym & get some pull-ups done in preparation for my trip to Montagu in April.

So in an effort to at least not salivate like Hannibal at the thought of Clarice, grunt, huff & puff like Kiefer Sutherland in well, all his roles?! while only walking to the crag, some serious training is to be done. This Valie WILL save some face there by the Cape :-P

In all seriousness, I’ve been putting in some effort on general fitness for a while now, trying to ride my bike a couple of times a week, always take the stairs etc. etc. but it’s not enough. I’ve stepped it up and I’ve set myself a challenge: Rabie street – Centurion. Now for me this is a serious climb, relentless from bottom to top and I’d like to ride it out in one go. According to Google earth it’s a 2.26km stretch with a 90m gain in height – I’ll believe the length but not too sure how accurate their height measurements are. I tackled the middle 3rd section this morning with surprising success. Topped it off with some flat stretches and a heartbreaker final little uphill to my flat, it was perfect – the morning air was crisp and when I got back in I was wide awake. Felt like a million bucks. Lookout Capies, here I come!

Bouldering wall planning & progress:
http://www.chicks-dig-scars.com/new-project-building-a-bouldering-wall/
http://www.chicks-dig-scars.com/emiles-guide-to-building-the-ultimate-bouldering-wall/
http://www.chicks-dig-scars.com/finished-at-last/

A discussion on painting a wall & some pics of homemade walls, including a outdoor freestanding wall similar to what I originally planned: http://www.climb.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=4623&start=0

Training articles:
http://www.geckogrips.co.za/training.html
http://www.chicks-dig-scars.com/climbing-training-by-stuart-brown/ (Thank Justin for keeping me on my toes, I see all those links to the training articles on your site changed!! )

New pics:
My frame, struts & all

A much prettier effort by Jaco – note the distinct lack of over-engineering (no struts at the sides)

Last time I was still aiming for a roughly 75 degree overhang. In the end I threw out all the fancy angle calculations and fit in the wall as best I could within the space available. I got lucky and found a spot where I did not need to cut the ply wood in order to shorten the wall and in the end result is pretty much what I hoped for…. perhaps slightly steeper than previously planned (I’ll get around to measuring the angle eventually), but what the hell – get a bit stronger and it’s the same thing, right?

A note on the grips: I found a few of them still had sharp seems left from the molds, but it’s breeze filing them down. Also, I’m used to grips from public indoor gyms which are relatively smooth from all the traffic, these ones are still quite rough and hard on the skin.

Had my first session on it last night – this morning I can feel a faint ache in my forearms – lekker!!

Please remember Rule #19 – 1.0:  Though shall not ever mention ‘Clucking’ EVER!!

Fragile Ego (17)
Starts with a small overhang that you have to overcome, followed by an interesting move on much smaller holds in order to gain a bigger ledge, which is where the problem lies: you’re so pumped that sidestepping the whole section(and thus going totally off-route) seems much more attractive, which is then off course what I did  (Better not tell the route police about that one….) Ends with an intimidating yet easy arete up onto a big block for clipping the chains. Fun climb, next time I won’t wimp out *promise to self*

Kate’s Moss (17)(a.k.a. Emile’s nemesis climb)
Finally, I got this one in perfect style and with plenty of juice to spare. I’ve been up this route 5-10 times (I’ve lost count over the years ) and each time it’s been a battle – the times I got the mid section crux, I was so pumped that the last section was a nightmare. Not anymore. As it turns out it’s all in the feet – I got it so easily this time that this once dreaded route will now be my warm up – whooohooo!!!

George’s Bush (20)
On top-rope and in bad style, but I got up this beast. Excellent and fun route, +- 25m long with 2 distinct cruxes, the first being the overhang / big bulge at the start, followed by easy climbing to the second crux. Some small slopy grips and a big keeyaay gets you over a small bulge on to a ledge from where it’s relatively easy climbing to the chains. I loved it and it’s my goal to red-point this one in good style.

We had a late start and the sun was catching up with us, so this was the end of the climbing – not that I think I had any juice left for another hard climb.

So, it’s more hangdog this week, I’ll start working the small rail and pockets more. I find the smaller crimps to be my downfall at this point. The one’s on the second crux of George’s Bush was quite different from what I can (or at least tried to) practise on the finger board.

I can’t yet honestly report back any major finger strength gains, but it’s a bit hard to be subjective. In order to build a solid foundation and avoid injury I’ve purposely not aimed for big short term gains. Having said that I can’t deny that I’m able to hold on to much smaller holds and get up routes I could not fathom before. On George’s Bush the first big move is onto a slopy looking hold and I was very pleased to find a edge on it onto which I could fit about 1 digits of 2 fingers, AND then pull from there onto the next big hold – that must count for something? Yes, me & myself think it’s starting to pay off.

To say I sucked would be a bit of an understatement. I got to the second bolt and simply had no juice left to go any further and seriously considered leaving the gear behind. After an epic jumar to the last bolt clipped, I had to swing out to the adjacent route’s (a 24) anchors. Even just cleaning the route proved to be a tedious and drawn out process.

De-motivation squared. The only thing that made me feel a bit better was getting home and reading that someone suggested an upgrade to 21.

So this week’s mission is to start getting fit – I’m guessing the stiff walk-in must have played a role, and then more hangdog. Yes, plenty more hangdog. And lose some weight, let’s make it a round 10kg’s, by end next week

In the process I’ll start writing my own cook book and stumble upon the first design for a cold fusion frying pan. That will make George Foreman cry, I’m sure. And of course find someone to pay me more for doing less: management position, here I come.

Never underestimate the power of a sick mind. Muahahahahaha

I’ve had 2 sessions so far, the result being sore forearms today and the slightly depressing but also exciting knowledge of how long a training path I’ve picked for myself.

For the first week or so I’ll just play around a bit, since I’ve not been climbing much lately I really need to ease into it – no tweaked tendons for me, thank you very much, then I’ll start trying out Stuart’s training tips

I’m looking forward to seeing my progress on the weekends on real rock, will post back here in a month or so - hoping to report some serious strongness

I was answering a post “Beginner climbing tips…” on Climb.co.za and thought I might as well post the links up here for my own / other’s use (I’ve not done any of the training yet, but will soon) – it’s a brilliant short & simple series of training articles by Stuart Brown, a very capable climber, owner of De Bos guest farm, motivational speaker and fire-walking facilitator.

Enjoy:
Training Day – Introduction

Training Day – Changing your mind set!

Training Day – It’s All In The Mind

Training Day – It’s not a size problem it is a power problem!

Training Day – Part 5 Shake the Pump!

Training Day – Part 6 – Fine Tune and Maintenance